Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Elle has LOVED music since the time she was just a couple of weeks old. She was crying in the car one afternoon, so I put a Patch the Pirate CD in, and literally the second she heard the little twinkling sound at the beginning of the CD, she stopped like someone had flipped a switch. It worked every single time we got in the car (she really didn’t like riding in the car!), it was remarkable… we joked that Patch the Pirate was actually a magician. So now it is 4 years later and she still loves to listen to her CDs in the car, while she plays in her room, and nearly every night in bed. She’s also pretty particular about which CD she’s in the mood to listen to and when. She was spending a good part of any car ride bummed out about her CD of choice being in the other parents’ car or at home. So what would any good Mom who would rather listen to Patch the Pirate than her 4 year old whine do? Make a CD case and make it the child's responsibility to have the CD she wants when and where she wants it, of course!

So here you have it, the One Yard Wonders CD case:
It holds 12 CDs, 6 on each side (just enough for Elle's Patch the Pirate and Music with Mar collection... BTW have you noticed the Music with Mar link that's always at the bottom of my blog??). The pattern was pretty straight forward; I didn’t make any changes to it at all. It came together quickly during Elle’s nap one afternoon & I can atest to how durable it is... Elle carries it everywhere! Now I’m just waiting for her to figure out what an iPod is!

Monday, February 15, 2010

I had to post just a quick update on the Love Notes gift I made for my Doug for Valentine's Day. He loved it! You may be thinking "well of course he did... who wouldn't love to be told all the ways the person they pine for adores them" but it's not that simple. In the 11 years I've known Doug I honestly can only think of one gift I've gotten him that was a perfect fit for him. He's terribly kind and always appreciative, but super particular. He was so sweet as he opened the love notes jar and read a couple then closed it and said "I want to savor these, I'll read more later". Later last night I asked him if he'd read anymore he said "just 10 more... while you were at the grocery store, but it was hard to stop" :) I'm so happy about making him happy!

Oh, and here's the little "Hoppy Valentines Day" card Elle and I made for him with a pom-pom & chenille stem froggy magnet on it. It would work for pretty much any celebration that could start with "Happy..."

Friday, February 12, 2010

Yes, I realize this is a bit late for Valentine’s Day posts, since it’s the day after next, but what’s a girl to do when she has 8 shirts, a sling, a towel, and a wrap to embroider along with 2 tag blankets to make?! I’ll tell you what, wait until the last possible minute to make the Valentine prizes for her daughter's classmates, make an emergency trip to the fabric store at 8:53pm for more white felt, and stay up entirely too late to get them finished! Hopefully the kids will think it’s worth it.
I found these cutesy little tin mail boxes about a month ago at Target in the $1 section and knew they would be perfect for Elle’s friends at “school”. I later found this tutorial for felt mail. While we’re on the subject of felt, this was the first time I’ve used wool felt. Until this project, I had always just used that super fuzzy and not very thick kind that comes on the huge bolts. I’ll never use the fuzzy thin stuff again! Wool felt is completely different, so much nicer, and easier to work with… definitely worth the extra expense in my opinion! Okay, so back to the mail, I used the dimensions from the tutorial, but sewed on the Velcro instead of hot gluing it, embroidered the addresses, and made the stamps Velcroable (yes that’s a word!) too. I also put a Valentine-y spin on it with the “I {heart} U” postcard and heart stamp.
I made the post card by creating a template of the design, tracing it onto the white felt, cutting it out and sewing it to the back of the pink. I embroidered the address and return address labels with the kid’s names and even made a set for Elle with her real address on it (it didn’t cross my mind until this project that she doesn’t know her address). Oh, I also discovered a new notion… gotta love that… iron-on rick rack! I used one with a shiny/glossy finish for the “writing” on the letter and postcard.
If it hadn’t taken me until nearly 2am to finish these I would’ve used rub on letters to add the child’s name to the mailbox, and maybe tied a ribbon or two around the flag.

It was a fun little project and I don’t feel too bad about posting it so close to Valentines Day because you could do this without a Valentine-y spin any time. In fact, it would be fun to “deliver” more mail to add to their collection throughout the year at each holiday… although that will eventually necessitate a bigger mail box to hold it all. Hmmmm, do you have an idea for how to craft a mailbox or other means to store lots of felt mail?

2)In each box on the page, hand write (no typing allowed! This is definitely the sort of thing that requires the personal touch of your own handwriting… I don’t want to hear how your handwriting isn’t pretty… just do it!) a sentence starting with “I love” about the subject of your affection. Get creative and challenge yourself to write as many love notes as you can! The notes can be anything from simple things they do (I love when you take out the trash. I love that you indulge my sweet tooth), to physical features (I love your almost salt & pepper hair.), to things you like to do together (I love kissing you), and characteristics you admire (I love your sense of humor). Write out what immediately comes to mind, but give yourself at least an afternoon or so to mull it over and write more notes as you think of them… the more you write the better!

3)Cut out each of your love notes into little slips of paper & fold them in half

4)Put a little filler of some sort in a clear jar/container. I used a piece of tissue paper, but paper shred or marbles would be cute too. Put all your love notes in the jar. Just fyi: my jar (pictured above) is not terribly big. I wrote around 120 love notes and still needed filler so that it wouldn’t look sparse… so take heed to #2 and you better really love this person!

5)Decorate! I tied a few ribbons around the neck of the jar, cut a piece of Valentiney card stock for the lid, and added sparkly letter stickers to spell out love notes.

This would be a great idea not only for your significant other, but also for your kiddos… don’t you think?!
Happy Valentines Day to you, my dear sweet readers! I hope there’s so much love in your life that you could write jars… no buckets… no rooms full of love notes!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Valentine's Day is sneaking up on me and I have a few projects to post so I better get on it! The first is this super simple felt heart garland that I saw on one of my favorite blogs, Made by Rae. Just cut different size hearts from a few colors of felt, and if you want to work on colors with your little one, have them hand you the colors you call out as you sew them together. Easy and cute!
Stop back here in the next week to see a Valentine idea I adapted for my Doug and a cute idea I'm working on for the kiddos.

About Me

Stacey is a business analyst by day and blogger/seamster/ crafter/party planner/aspiring Super Mom by night & weekends. When she's not solving fortune 500 companies system and process problems she's making whatever inspires her at the moment. Her uber supportive husband, Doug, and adorable daughters, Elle & Liv, are her motivation, inspiration, and sense of accomplishment.